The present invention relates to plants for mechanical processing by means of cutting machine tools, and more in particular it pertains to a device for evacuating the metallic shavings resulting from said metallic work processes.
Traditionally, the shavings resulting from machine tools are subjected to treatments for removing any oil and triturating, and then collected in appropriate evacuation containers. This solution is clearly not very practical due to the need to handle such containers, which are normally heavy and bulky.
According to another known solution, the shavings are sent to motorised evacuating conveyors, which can be floor mounted or buried in the floor: this solution, in addition to being complicated and costly, has flexibility problems because it imposes rigid constraints relating to the arrangement of the machine tools and entails severe limitations if said arrangement is subsequently modified.
The object of the present invention is to overcome the aforesaid drawbacks, and to provide a device for evacuating metallic shavings that is simple and economical to obtain and is highly practical and flexible in use.
According to the invention said aim is achieved by means of a rotating evacuating conveyor comprising a collection container having an opening for the entry of the shavings, a bucket rotatably mounted in the collection container about a vertical axis and having a bottom wall situated underneath said inlet opening, motor means for operating rotation of the bucket, an evacuation conduit connected to an aspiration unit and having a lower end terminating within said collection container above said bottom wall in an offset position relative to said vertical axis, and a stationary conveying member designed, during rotation of the bucket, to convey the shavings below said lower end of the evacuation conduit.
The aspiration unit is advantageously pneumatic (vacuum pump) but, alternatively, it can also consist of a hydraulic pump. In the second case, the shavings may be inserted into the collection container of the device even without being previously subjected to an oil removal treatment.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the bottom wall of the bucket has a plurality of substantially radial projections, having the function of moving, during the rotation of the bucket, the shavings concentrated in the area of the lower end of the evacuation conduit. Moreover, the conveying member is advantageously constituted by a shaped blade extending, immediately above the bottom wall of the bucket, between said vertical axis and said lower end of the evacuation conduit.
The evacuation conduit can advantageously be provided with a shut-off valve, for instance a pneumatic valve with flexible hose, set cyclically to open and shut communication between the aspiration unit and the collection container of the device, possibly in synchronism with the activation of the motorised means for operating the rotation of the bucket.